How cattle are classified in the NAIT system can have a direct impact on the levies paid when animals are processed. As dairy-origin calves are increasingly raised for beef finishing, ensuring animals are correctly recorded in NAIT is becoming more important for farmers.
Livestock slaughter levies help fund national bio security and disease management programmes, including those targeting tuberculosis. Different levy rates apply to dairy and beef cattle to reflect how programme costs are shared across the industry. From 1 October 2025, the slaughter levies are $14.50 per head for dairy cattle and $4.50 per head for beef cattle.
When beef finishers purchase calves originating from dairy farms, the levy applied at slaughter is based on the production type recorded in NAIT rather than the animal’s breed or how it has been farmed. If the production type remains listed as dairy, the higher dairy levy will apply.
Farmers can update the production type from dairy to beef once an animal has been on a beef property for at least 62 days prior to slaughter. With the current levy structure, this change can reduce the levy payable by $10 per head.
For farmers finishing larger numbers of dairy-origin cattle, maintaining accurate NAIT records can help avoid unnecessary costs.
